Molded rubber article



July 30, 1935. E Y U G 2,009,866

MOLDED RUBBER ARTICLE Filed Dec. 17, 1930 INVENTOR.

PHIL/P E. You/vs A TTORNE Y.

Patented July 30, 1935 UNITED STATES MOLDED RUBBER ARTICLE Philip E. Young, Fairhaven,

Mass, assignor to I. B. Kleinert Rubber Company, New York,

Application December 17, 1930, Serial No. 502,959

6 Claims.

This invention relates to molded rubber ticles. g

The invention has specific reference to such articles as caps made especially for use by swimmers, which are molded from elastic material,

such as common calendered, unvulcanized rubber stock, or the like, and which are intended to be placed upon the heads of swimmers by distending the material'of the caps, the cap then fitting snugly the head ofthe wearer due to the inherent elasticity of the material.

In the past, these caps have been comprised essentially in two specific varieties,-namely, those made of two substantially similar pieces, the edges of which were united either by vulcanizing them directly to each other throughout a substantial extent thereof, or by vulcanizing the edges to a distinct piece of rubber, fitted over such edges, and those made by forming a body portion to produce a substantially cylindrical portion, and a crown portion, which was substantially circular in contour, the latter portion being united with an end edge of the cylindrical portion by the interposition of a third portion to which both the cylindrical and the circular portions were vulcanized.

As is well known, the caps of the first type, because of the sharp convergence of the portions andconsequent lack of material at the crown do not permit donning the c'aps with any great comfort. When finally fitted to the head of the wearer, the distortion of the seam and of the material necessary to permit the cap to seat upon the head of the wearer produces a misshapen appearance which is undesirable.

In the case of the other type of cap,wh ile suflicient room is provided at the crown to permit donning the cap in comfort, and to give a final clean cut appearance to the article, when being used, there remains, however, the fact that the cap, in its production, required the preparation for its manufacture of a distinct body portion and a distinct crown portion, and the subsequent vulcanization of the two portions together'by means of a distinct third portion. There was also the major defect that when the article was finally produced, andit'was necessary to pack it for shipment, the crown portion, which had been vulcanized to the body portion, required folding into such form that the cap might be packed in the smallest possible compass. For this purpose the crown portion was bent or creased in such manner that a line other than a seam line was produced in the several thicknesses of the rubber forming the crown portion. An ungainly appearance of the packed article was also thus produced, which was not desirable for the purposes of eifecting a good sales display. Also, to fold the rubber forming the crown portion in the manner specified, it was necessary to perform 5 upon the cap certain manual operations to assure that the crown was properly folded in order to assure proper packing conditions.

It is an object of the invention to provide a cap of the type herein set forth which will have a l0 distinct crown portion to permit donning the cap in comfort and with a minimum of distortion, which cap, in its normal state, will assume a flat form which is conducive to great efliciency in V, packing the caps for shipment, or for other pur- 1'5 poses of like importance.

It is another object of the invention to provide 'a cap of the type herein set forth which has a crown portion and a body portion, all formed by a single vulcanizing operation, and in which the 20 crown portion, when thus formed, by its inherent elasticity, will cause the cap as a whole to assume a normally fiat state, when permitted to come to rest and when no distending force acts upon the material of the body portion.

It is another object of the invention to provide a cap of the type hereinabove set forth, in which the crown portion, when the cap is not in use, is at all times housed within the body portion of the cap so that the cap presents a smooth, 30 fiat contour tothe eye of a purchaser, not in any manner distorted by folded portions appearing on the external surface thereof.

Other objects of this invention will be hereinafter set forth, or will be apparent from the de- 35 scription and the drawing, in which is illustrated a'preferred embodiment of the invention.

The invention, however, is not intended to be restricted to' the particular construction and ar- 40 rangement of parts, nor to the particular applications of such constructions, herein shown and described, nor to the specific methods of operation, nor to the various details thereof, as the same may be modified in various particulars or 45 be applied in many varied relations without departing from' the spirit and scope of the invention, a preferred embodiment of which has been herein illustrated and described Without attempting to show all the various forms and modifications in which the invention might be embodied.

On the drawing, in which is disclosed a preferred embodiment for effecting the invention,

7 Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a cap,embodying the invention, and shown as worn.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 2--2 of Fig. l, of the cap in its normal condition.

The cap l0, shown on the drawing, and embodying the invention, may be made in any suitable manner, but preferably molding has been found to produce an article most effective for the results desired. The materials used are selected to produce a final product having inherent elasticity so that the cap may be distended to conform to the contour of the head of the wearer. The cap in the instant case, is designed for use by a swimmer to protect his hair and scalp from the efiects of excessive contact with water, or to permit the indulgence in exercise such as swim ming or diving, without affecting the coiifure. Preferably, gum rubber which has been calendered and with which has been mixed the necessary reagents for efiecting vulcanization thereof, is used for the manufacture of the article described.

The cap consists essentially of a body portion l2 and a crown portion l4. When the body por tion is distended to conform with the contour of the head of the wearer, the crown portion l4, which, as hereinafter appears, normally lies within the body portion l2, will also be distended and will thereupon be positioned to cover the top portion of the head of the wearer. The body portion i2 is made up of a pair of sections [5 of substantially the same contour, the sections being united along the side edges l3 and 20, the bottom edges 22 being left free to provide an opening through which the head of the wearer may be inserted. Preferably, the edges 22 are cut in such manner that, at the front 24 of the cap a high free portion is provided, to clear the forehead of the wearer, while at the rear end of the cap the sections are of considerably greater height, so that the edges 22 are lower, thus permitting the cap to come down further over the ears and the back hair of the wearer. Means such as the snaps 26 may be inserted through the flaps 28, provided by a suitable drop along the edges 22 from the small to the large end of the cap, for well-known purposes.

The crown portion l4 comprises a pair of segments 30 which are united to each along their edges 32, from which line they extend upwardly to terminate in the edges 34, each of which is individually united along a seam line 36 with an extreme upper edge 38 of a section 15. The manner of formation of segments 30 and the union thereof with sections 16, and the union of the sections [6 to each other along seam lines 49, are'such that the natural elasticity of ,the material used in molding the product acts to force the sections and the segments to fold up into a stacked formation in which the segments are disposed within the sections, and are not visible to an observer when the cap is not in use and the sections are not distended.

This is accomplished by forming the seam at the edges 32 so that the segments 30 extend thereto in normal condition, substantially in flat, face to face contact, diverging from the seam at a sharp angle, a rounding effect at the seam being eliminated as much as possible. A sharp torsional effect will therefore be producedshould the segments be moved away from each other,'an effect which would act to bring the flaps back into contact with each other. In the same manner, the seams at the lines 36 are formed so that the material of the segmentsand of the sections will likewise be forced to assume positions closely adjacent each other in the normal arrangement of the cap, the angle of divergence being opposite to that at the edges 32. In this manner, there is necessarily produced an article which would assume a substantially flat appearance, in which the crown portion would be hidden within the body portion, and would not provide any undesirable projection to hinder packing the cap with others for shipping or like purposes.

- What is claimed as new and useful is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a swimmers cap, or the like, comprising a plurality of individual sections, a pair of said sections being united at adjacent edges thereof and providing a body portion, and a pair of elastic segments forming a crown portion for said cap and being united to each other and to edges of said body portion, the elasticity thereof tending to move said crown portion within said body portion and to compel all of the segments and sections to assume a substantially flat position, stacked upon each other, and all extending in substantially the same direction away from the outer edges of the body portion, the line of union of the segments being housed within said body portion.

2. As an article of manufacture, a swimmers cap, or the like, comprising a plurality of individual sections, a pair of said sections being united at adjacent edges thereof and providing a body portion, and a pair of elastic segments forming a crown portion for said cap and being united to each other and to edges of said body portion, the elasticity thereof tending to move said crown portion within saidbody portion and to compel all of the segments and sections to assume a substantially fiat position, stacked upon each other, and all extending in substantially the same direction away from the outer edges of the body portion.

3. As an article of manufacture, a swimmers cap, or the like, comprising a pluralityof individual sections, a pair of said sections being united at adjacent edges thereof and providing a body portion; and a pair of elastic segments forming a crown portion for said cap and being united to each other and to edges of said body portion, the elasticity thereof tending to move said crown portion within said body portion and to compel the segments thereof to assume a substantially flat position, stacked upon each other.

4. As' an article of manufacture, a swimmers cap made from a plurality of inherently elastic sheet material portions, a body portion for the cap being formed by the sheet material for positioning around the head of the swimmer, and a covering for the top part of the head formed from similar material, the top-covering being disposed in operative position when the cap is distended to dispose the body portion around the head of the wearer, the sheet material portions being disposed in face-to-face relationship immediately at their contiguous edges and extending away from the line of contact in substantially the same general direction, the portions being integrally united along the contiguous edges to define the top-covering and the body portion so that the inherent elasticity of the sheet material portions will cause movement of the top-covering to a position in which it is housed within the body portion.

5. As an article of manufacture, a swimmers cap made from a plurality of inherently elastic sheet material portions, a body portion for the cap being formed by the sheet material for positioning around the head of the swimmer, and I.

covering for the top part of the head formed from a pair of the sheet material portions, the sheet material portions forming the top-covering being brought into operative position when the cap is distended to dispose the body portion around the head of the wearer, the sheet material portions forming the top-covering being disposed in face-to-faoe relationship immediately at their contiguous edges and extending away from the line of contact in substantially the same general direction, the portions being integrally united along the contiguous edges so that the inherent elasticity of the sheet material portions will cause movement of the top-covering and the body por-- tion to a relationship in which the sheet material portions are all substantially planar in form and are disposed one upon the other with the sheet material portions forming the top-covering housed between the sheet material portions forming the body portion.

6. As an article of manufacture, a swimmers cap made from a plurality of inherently elastic sheet material portions, a body portion for the cap being formed by a pair of the sheet material portions and being capable of distension to be positioned to encircle the head of the swimmer, and a covering for the top part of the head formed from a pair of the sheet material portions, the sheet material portions forming the top-covering being brought into operative position when the cap is distended to dispose the body portion around the head of the wearer, the sheet material portions forming the top-covering being disposed in face-to-face relationship immediately at their contiguous edges and extending away from the line of contact in substantially the same general direction, and the sheet material portions forming the body portion being disposed in face-toface relationship at end edges thereof and having such end edges disposed substantially in the same positions but the material portions extending away from the position in substantially the same general direction, the portions formingrespectively the body portion and the top-covering being integrally united along the associated edges so that the inherent elasticity of the sheet material portions will cause movement of the topcovering and the body portion to a relationship in which the sheet material portions forming the top-covering are all substantially planar in form and are disposed one upon the other and are housed by the sheet material portions forming the body portion.

PHILIP E. YOUNG. 

